New Year’s Resolutions For MBAs

A new year calls for new resolutions.

In a recent article for Forbes, Conor Neill, Senior Lecturer at IESE Business School and President of Vistage in Spain, outlines a few ways b-school students can plan for a happier, more productive 2019.

Cut Down Emails

Neill advises students to try and have time during the day where they shut down all incoming notifications, such as emails.

He recommends having “60 minutes shutting down incoming notifications and working for a solid 60 minutes on something that is important to you in the long term.”

Doing this can help you prioritize what’s truly important.

“It is dangerously easy to be busy on the urgent and forget about being productive on what is really important,” Neill writes.

Start A Stop Doing List

Another way to prioritize what’s important is to start a “stop doing” list.

“When you are young, you have the freedom to keep adding ideas, dreams, tasks and adventures to your bucket list,” Neill writes. “The moment that middle age begins is the moment when you realize that there is finite time left in our life. Acceptance of this fact leads to a clearing out of all the plans, tasks, adventures of life and a reduction down to the most important. You cannot do everything but you can do anything.”

Save, Save, And Save

Every young person has heard this. But, Neill says, saving money is one of the ways you can lead a happier and more productive future.

“For the first time in my life, this year I have not bought things that I wanted (the new drone, a longer trip to New York) in order to save money and invest it,” Neill writes.

What’s the magic number when it comes to saving?

According to Fidelity Investments, it’s wise to have 10 times your final salary in savings to plan to retire by age 67.

Here’s a clear-cut strategy provided by Fidelity Investments:

• In your 20s, put enough away so that by the time you turn 30, you’ll have the equivalent of your salary saved.
• By 40, aim to have three times your salary saved up.
• By age 50, you should have enough saved to equal six times your salary.
• By age 60, your savings should be eight times your salary.
• And 10 times your salary by the full retirement age of 67.

Sources: Forbes, CNBC